the 2006 Marx memorial address
2007 Karl Marx oration by Mary Davis editor of Communist Review
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e are here today to commemorate Marx’s birth in May 1818, but lest it be thought that the annual oration is a cranky fo rm of stone worship, it is appropriate to remind ours e l ves of the enduring importance of Marx’s ideas. G i ve n that Marx’s writings would fill at least 55 volumes, I cannot pretend to do justice to his wo rk. Howe ver, one of the best summaries of his contri bution was given by his friend and collaborator, Friedrich Engels, in the eulogy he delivered to Marx three days after the latter’s death in 1883. Engels argued that Marx made two major discove ries: 1. the law of development of human history – that is, historical materialism, and 2. the special law of motion gove rning the p r e s e n t - d ay capitalist mode of production In Engels (much misunderstood) wo r d s : ‘Just as Darwin discovered the law of d e velopment of organic nature, so Marx discovered the law of development of human history: the simple fact, hitherto concealed by an ove rg r owth of ideology, that mankind mu s t fi rst of all eat, drink, have shelter and clothing, b e fore it can pursue politics, science, art, religion, etc.; I say much misunderstood because this passage is often used by those who reject historical materialism to assert that Marx was a crude economic determinist: the infamous base/superstructure argument. Anyone who has read the ‘18th Brumaire’, ‘Class Struggles in France’ or the ‘German Ideology’ (and much more) will know that there was nothing crude about Marx’s analysis and it betrays no signs of economic determinism. But, as Engels argues, historical materialism was not the only great discove ry. ‘Marx also revealed the special law of motion gove rning the present-day capitalist mode of production, and the bourgeois society that this mode of production has created.The discove ry of surplus value s u d d e n ly threw light on the probl e m , in trying to solve which all previous investigations, of
‘Marx also revealed the special law of motion governing the pre s e n t - d ay capitalist mode of production, and the b o u rgeois society that this mode of production has cre at e d . The discovery of surplus value suddenly threw light on the problem, in trying to solve which all previous investigations, of both bourgeois economists and socialist critics, had been g roping in the dark.’
both bourgeois economists and socialist critics, had been groping in the dark.’ Supporters and detractors alike all have to acknowledge the profundity of Marx’s analy s i s if the inner wo rkings of capitalism. Both these major contri butions must neve r be seen as fossilised dogmas – as the last word on all aspects of social reality; but rather as the key to opening an ongoing understanding of the world in which we live and the way it deve l o p s . So Marx did not say it all, it is up to us who inherit the tradition he founded to constantly renew it by applying its method to an analysis of 21st century capitalism. Howe ver, as Marx wrote in the 11th thesis on Feuerbach (and is up there on his grave s t o n e ) , it is not enough to understand the world: the point is to change it. Marx was thus a revolutionary. As Engels said in his eulogy: ‘His real mission in life was to contri bu t e, in one way or another, to the ove rt h r ow of capitalist society and of the state institutions which it had brought into being, to contribute to the liberation of the modern proletariat, which he was the first to make conscious of its own position and its needs, conscious of the conditions of its emancipation.’ He went on to cite all the newspapers and periodicals to which Marx contributed, bu t added that his crowning achievement was the fo rmation of the International Working Men’s Association— ‘an achievement of which its founder might well have been proud even if he had done nothing else.’ Because of his revolutionary activities ‘Marx was the best hated and most calumniated man of his time. Gove rnments, both absolutist and republican, deported him from their territories.’ (Engels) But nonetheless he died, again according to Engels ‘belove d , revered and mourned by millions of revolutionary fe l l ow worke rs—from the mines of Siberia to California, in all parts of Europe and America’ Engels could not have fully appreciated the
enduring ve racity of this statement. Writing in the 19th century he could not have foreseen the huge worldwide influence of Marx way beyond Europe and America. From the 1920’s onwards, fo l l owing the debacle of World War One, the bankruptcy of social democracy and the momentous influence of the Russian revolution, Communist Parties were formed and remain active throughout the wo rld. Just as Marx was ‘hated’ and ‘calumniated’ by reactionary gove rnments and was deported by them, so it is with c o m munists of our era. We need only cast our eyes a few yards from Marx’s grave in this ve ry cemetery to see this. Buried here are communists from Iraq, South Africa and the USA. L i ke Marx, all were in exiled from regimes where the party was illegal or semi-legal where communists were imprisoned, tortured and were either deported or forced to escape. So, here lies the black American Communist, Claudia Jones (pictured above ) , feminist, black activist, c o m munity leader, journalist and who has been described as the mother of the Notting Hill carnival. She founded and edited the West Indian Gazette which despite financial problems remained
‘His real mission in life was to contribute, in one way or another, to the overt h row of capitalist society and of the stat e institutions which it had brought into being, to contribute to the liberation of the modern proletariat, which he was the first to make conscious of its own position and its needs, conscious of the conditions of its emancipation.’
crucial in the struggle of black people in Britain. Also bu ried here are three members of the Central Committee of the Iraqi Commu n i s t Party – a party which has been persecuted or maintained an illegal existence for much of its history. Amer Abdullah played a prominent part in the 1958 revo l u t i o n .Thabit Habib-al-ani also bu ried here was expelled from Iraq in 1956 by the British gove rnment for anti Iraqi activities! Saad Ali (brother of a current prominent Central Committee member) is also interred here. Saad was one of the founders of CARDRI. And over there is Yusuf Dadoo, (pictured above) Chairman of South African Commu n i s t Party, first president of the African National Congress and a close associate of Nelson Mandela. Hours before his death in September 1983, Dadoo sent a message to the Central Committee of the SACP in which he upheld the vital importance of Marxism in the ideological struggle. He wrote: ‘Our strength in the past has been bu i l t upon the depth of our Party’s and cadres ideological knowledge and understanding.The fierce ideological battle being waged on many fronts must not find our Party wanting. It is in
this context that we need to assess here today, and in our fo rthcoming deliberations, our weaknesses and strengths, our successes and failures. We must fra n k ly, h o n e s t ly and r e a l i s t i c a l lyprovide direction for enhancing our work in the testing time that lies ahead….Of prime importance is the ideological work at every leve l . We need to cri t i c a l ly assess our effe c t i veness in this key area.’ The fierce ideological battle continues today. Communists have to contend with an aggressive resurgence of neo-liberalism and, in its wake, an array of divisive ideas ranging from religious fundamentalism (with its homophobic and misogynistic connotations) to sectarian leftism. We have to re-assert the primacy of class and class struggle against those who would either deny its relevance, misunderstand its composition or wreck the potential fo r united struggle for short term advantage. And thus we too have to measure up to this ideological and political battle of which Dadoo wrote. We must do this not by asserting (as some did in the past) that ‘marxism is omnipotent because it is true’, bu t by understanding and applying Marx’s great discove ries to our own era.This is what mu s t unite commu n i s t s , the inheritors of the Marxist tradition – a secular socialist tradition, throughout the world. The essence of the struggle - to end exploitation and oppression forever remains a constant goal and provides an organic link with Marx and the socialists of his century.The task still remains to interpret our wo rld in order to change it.
We have to reassert the primacy of class and class struggle against those who would either deny its releva n c e , misunderstand its composition or wreck the potential for united struggle for short term a dva n t a g e .
Mary Davis is editor of Communist Rev i ew and a member of the executive committee of the Communist Party. She is professor of Labour History, deputy-director of the Working Lives Research Institute and head of the Centre for Trade Union Studies at London Metropolitan University designed by Nick Wright